Royal Gazette: Archaeologist to return to historic Bermuda settlement
A US-based archaeologist who has studied one of the first settlements in Bermuda will return next month to continue his groundbreaking work.
Michael Jarvis, a professor at the University of Rochester in New York, will take a team of volunteers and students to Smith’s Island in St George’s to reignite the search for the “Captain’s House”, an early commander’s residence.
Dr Jarvis said the site of the island’s first settlements could reveal more about which Native American groups were sent to Bermuda, as well as how the site had an impact on the growth of Bermudian culture.
He added: “This settlement being here for 100 years shows you potentially 80 years of different people — Englishmen, Africans and Native Americans — slowly becoming a new, unique Bermudian culture.”
Dr Jarvis started the Smith’s Island Archaeology Project in 2012 to study the settlement.
He explained that Smallpox Bay contained a house occupied by the acting captain of the nearby Smith’s Port but he had been unable to locate it.
The most his project had found, he said, was a series of post holes — rounded spaces that served as foundations for early home building — cut into the bedrock.
Dr Jarvis said that his teams used ground-penetrating radar to uncover a detached kitchen for the enslaved people of the Captain’s House, as well as a water cistern and the foundation of another building.
He added that excavations uncovered Native American artefacts in the detached kitchen, which supported the understanding that there were several enslaved Native Americans working at the settlement, particularly under Captain Boaz Sharpe.
Dr Jarvis said: “It appears to be three generations — an older couple, an early midlife couple and then five children.
“They would have lived in that house in the kitchen. They ran the whole property — they probably did all the work, kept livestock, produced cloth and fished.”
He added: “On paper it looks like a White man’s house, but in reality it is actually much more of a reflection of Native American culture than this White captain.
“Right next door, I know St David’s has a long tradition and affiliation with Native American culture and this is a tangible connection to that.”
Royal Gazette: Archaeologist to return to historic Bermuda settlement